Intoduction

Ask yourself the following discussion questions:

• Have you ever had to make a difficult personal decision?
• What steps did you use in the trying to make your decision?
• What choices did you think were available to you?
• How did you judge the worth of these choices?

Activity 1 - The Process of Decision Making

Summary

• Because people are interdependent they must live in groups.
• Regardless of size, each group, if it is to be effective and to survive, must establish fundamental beliefs, values as well as mechanisms to ensure they are obeyed:
  • a social contract;
  • a decision making process; and
  • a method of judging and enforcing laws.
• Each one of these group fundamentals involves the use of decision making and power.
• When humans make decisions about important issues, they tend to base their decisions on what they believe to be "realistic", or "makes sense", or is "reasonable". These words are descriptors defining what that person considers to be legitimate.

Assignment

Use the attached situational response and questions to further student understanding of applying the model and their understanding of individual needs vs societal needs.